Cape May Mayor Edward Mahaney said the city is organizing meetings with FEMA and Department of Environmental Protection Agency officials to ensure that the best interests and needs of property owners are met.

"We want to ensure that their property will not flood and that the city as a whole and individual properties can achieve flood insurance status at an affordable cost," said Mahaney.

Ocean and Monmouth County officials are also concerned. Middletown's mayor wants to examine the maps more closely and Berkeley Township's mayor is reviewing the maps to make sure they are accurate.

Mahaney says the rebuilding process must also be taken into account.

"There are two aspects to these maps, first what will the regulations be for new construction for homeowners who are rebuilding and then secondly, for current homeowners, what this will mean in terms of flood insurance and how much will it cost them," he said.

The new regulations could also affect the real estate industry at the shore.

"If flood insurance becomes difficult to obtain or very expensive to obtain, that could be a major factor in people not buying properties at the shore and could undermine our total economy, which at the shore is our lifeblood," he said.